Twilight sparkle put's on a hat
by sky-blue-quill
Summary: Mystery is in the are! When twilight begins to read in her sleep, she goes off to explore the artic lands of mayupa!


**Twilight Sparkle Puts' on a Hat**

(an: I wrote this story a long time ago, but I never was brave enough to publish it. I was originally going to publish it in parts, so I coud make changes as it happened. I hope that's not a problem now. I hop you enjoy mo story and have a nice day:)

(an: my friend told me it was a good idea to write abot chaaracters besides rainbow dash - so im writing a sequel to my hearhtwarming story. This story is the follow-up to the story of twilight sparle's heartwarming-gift. I hope you all like it and let me know how it feels!)

twilight sparkle woke up to the fresh smell of roasting cofee that spike was making. She ran a comb casualy through her pruple-and-pink-hair and said "good morning spike! thanks for making the mouring cofee!" she congratulated sleepily - no problem!' said spike happily turning the grinder - "did you have a good nights sleep?" he inquired - "I had a nice dream where we were all at a water-park and having a great time!' responded twilight sipping at the deliscous coffee. She hummed apreciativly and pondered what she should do today when all of a sudden - she got and idea! She could help rainy! - she was running a new years' sale and would probably be having a lots of customors - sow she would need all the help she could get! She went ot the hat rack to get her new wool hat, but she realized she was already wearing it. She blushed at her mistake - but luckilly - spike didn't seem to notice because he was extra coffee for all his friends in poniville with a special batch saved just for snuggle's. Twilight smiled t herself as she opened the door and stepped out into the crisp winter sunshine. The snow cruched merrily under her hooves as she trotted down the street to rairtie's boutiq. She passe big macintosh - who was snow-plowing to help ponies out and earn a little more money for th e farm - and twiilight said "hello big macentosh, that's a great job your'e doing. "eeyup!" he said humbly and went back to work. Soon she was at rarities' place and she knocked on the door politely. "come iihn dahhling!" rarity tootled - "you'll catch a cold!". "Hi rarity" - twilight proposed - "I was wondering if you would like my help with the sale today?" - "thahht would be juhst loVEly!" rarity beamed thankfully "just do'nt forget to hang up you coat and hat." she reminded before hanging up her own coat - which was stylish blue purple with gold trim and lining that looked like fur but was'nt - and getting out her materials. The too friends spent the quite morning chatting idly together and helping with the new dresses and clothes cozily. When they were done the bellon the door of the shop started ringing ineffably - lots and lots of ponies were coming in to buy clothes nd were very impressed by the designs they saw! Pish-Posh - the local fashion reporter - came up to rarity. "these designs were most esxquisite! Do you mind if I were to borrow one so I could write an article about it?" he asked awedly - "of course darhhhling!" Rarity returned gracefully - then the white unicorn turned to twilight sparkle - Thanks for your help today!" she apreciated thoughtfully "don't worry about it - what are friends for?" responded twilight aimably. Rarity nodded her head in appoval and then gasped in shocked silence when she caught sight of the hat twilight sparlke was putting on. "dahhling please let me use a minute with that hat." she pleaded concernedly "ahh could not bEAR the thought of poor you wahhhlking with that thing on your head" she snatched it away and began using her unique fashion skills on it. Twilight pulled the hat away gently and said "its' fine rarity - i do'nt care." - rarity conceded. "if you insist - although let me finishe the croshe pattern." she requested respectfully. Twilight sighed humurously and hooved the hat back over to her friend and waited patiently wile rarity - egroned and enamored with her job - worked away t the woll-knit hat. When it was finished the two friends ahd a friendly good-bye and they left. Twilight sparkle returned to her library where spike was out for the moment having a quiet moment with sompony. Twilight cracked her hoof joints and sat down to a good book about equestrian history - the anchient kingdom of Mayupa - which was next to saddle arabia - and the ponies who lived there. As she kept reading - she started to smell sleepy. Her eyes slowly seemed to close as she kept reading. She was woken up when spike came up the stairs - carrying firewood in his arms. "Hi twilight" he greeted - "how's the book?". Twilight said "it was very interesting - did you know that noponie's been to the kingdom of Mayupa for hundreds of years -even though it contains important ruins and sculptures?" suprisedly. She didn't know where she had come from! She had fallen asleep learning about the temple of Jehuth and she had fallen asleep - but in her head she knew the entire book FROM EACH COVER! She usually memorized books but she never knew she could do it while asleep before? "That's facsniating" remarked spike innocently - "I wonder if ther'll ever be an expadtion.". Twilight shook her head and thought hard - then asked "spike - where do we keep the books on sleeping?" "I'll get it for you" spike offered playfully - coming up with a book called "all about sleep". Twilight thanked spike then poured herself into the book - delving chapters asunder- until she found a section called "sleep-reading". The book said that every once in a while in ancient equestrian - saddle arabia and the kingdom of Mayupa - ponies somtimes seemed to be able to read books while they ere asleep. The cause was never known and it seemed to happen at random! But it was not around FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS! Twilight scratched her head in confusion and thought about what could be causing it. This was something to write to celesita about! "she got out a letter and wrote -Dear princess celestia. Something strange happened to me today - I read a book in my sleep and I don't know why. The book I read said that it used to happen mysteriously in old times and was wondering if you would know anyting about it. Your faithful student - twilight sparkle" Spike sent off the letter in a puff of green flame and got a reply soon - "My faithfull student - twilight sparkle. This used to happen all the time in canterlot - but not to me or luna - we both tried to find out why but when we tried our results were nothing. One day this phfenomenom disappeared as mysteriously as it began - none of the ponies who could read knew why. I wish I could be more help - so if you have any other questions - please ask me. Princess Celestia." twilight pondered what it could mean - what had caused it to happen? "is there any way I can help?" asked spike genuinely - "thanks spike-" said twilight with a half smile "-but I don't think so - why don't you take a buble bath?" spike agreed and went off while twilight tried to shake of the mystery and focus on the next thing in her day - she stepped out into the snow and went over to applejack's house to keep an eye on the cutie mark chruasers while thei're big sister was busy doing farm work. They had a great time making snow ponies and snow alicorns (an: they're like equestian snow angles!) and making a snow fort. Sweety bell was very talented at making beautiful things out of snow and soon the thre of them were trying to earn a cutie mark as icescultures. Twilight smiled sentimentally at the sight of the three chisling away at a block f ice big macintosh had been nice enough to get for them. The scupture may not have been nice-looking, but it had incredible gumption and enthusasm. Soon it was the end of the day and twilight went over to the bed - pulling the sheets over spike - who suddenly exclaimed "OHMYCELESTIAIFORGOTTOTHAWTHEFIREWOOD!" He apologetically tumbled out of bed and went over to the pile of firewood, where he groaned with his own upsettness - "Now they're frozen solid" - twilight pulled the bedsheets up tight over her head when spike said "it was smart of you to bring your hat to bed - with how cold it might get" he said. Twilight blushed when she realized she was still wearing the hat from when she was taking care v the cutie mark crusaders - she blushed at first but then she acted calmly - like she had done it on purpose. "Are you gonna be ok spike?" Twilight inquired- "Diamond scales keep my body heat from escaping. Ill be fine" spike responded - climbing into his bed. Twilight pulled up the (other) covers and peacefully ddrifted out into Luna's world of dreaming.

[AN: thanks for the introduction guys! I really hipe you like the intrique in this one - there will be a series of this so I would love to haer back from you guys in the feedack section! Thanks for reading and I hope you have a nice week!]

chapter 2: the intrique grows

(an: I want to thank you guys for reading my story! I am allways trying to get bette writer and I hop you guys will make suggestrions!)

Twilight sparkle woke up the next day sleepily. The sun was swimming though the window and it was another big day in ponivelle - twilight sparkle rolled over and DUNKED HER HEAD IN INK! She suddenly sat bolt upright - shaking the ink off her like water on a dog - and looked around her - this was'nt her bead! This was'nt even her room! She had woken up in the library - head first into a book! Spike truddled down the stairs and beamed "twilight there you are - i was looking all over for you and I was starting to worry. What are you reading?" twilight looked down at the book confusedly - this is a copy of 'a third grader's guide to magical spells'" twilight mused deeply - 'I-nor anypony I know of, has read this for years' - she turned over the later pages and dust poured out of them like swirling fog - twilight noticed there was dust on the table to. "HHMmmm…" twilight inspected intelegently - "there's way to much dust here for just one book" she turned to the shelf of magical educational books and used her magic to inspect each one. All of the ones before the third grade had no dust on them! Twilight looked back at the table and saw a candl with wax dripping out of it! There was even a large loaf of wax under the table where it fell - 'too much wax for one book twilight' spike offered helpfully. Twilight pondered her chin as she thought about her options: -was she reading all the educational books she knew in her sleep? - had it all been a practical joke? It was zoo confusing twilight almost thought she was draeming. "are you ok twilight" spike inquired concernedly - "im fine-" said twilight "-in fact, i feel really wel rested." she concluded bafflingly. Spike came up with a book called 'dreaming phychology' and said "I thought it might help out…" caringly. Twilight smiled and said "thanks spike," then she opened the index and looked at all the chapters. They had an entire apendix on sleeping stuff - she scrolled though and found a section called 'the world of sleepwalking'. She read it and was very surprised at what she found - the book said that sometimes ponies feel really stressed and they sleepwalk because of it. WHAT DIT IT MEAN? twilight thought circularly - she was stressed? - now she had to make sure she would'nt get stressed. But then what if she worried about not becoming stressed? That could turn into stress! Just in time spike came over with a tray of steaming tea - balanced on a lunch tray. "Do'nt worry about it. 'm sure it will make sense eventually." spike reasured supportively. "thanks spike" twilight appreciated ernestly - the little dragon always knew just what to say. Twilight sippe.d the tea and and thought about what could be causing er stress? "spike?" twilight asked - "can you think of anything that might have been causing me stress" Spike though intelsy - "sorry twilight" - I just cant' think of anything" spike apologized. Twilight thought hard and long about it and then she looked at the clock "OHMYCELESTAIINEEDTOGOSPIKE!" twilight said while dashing out the door and grabbing her mittens. She had planned to help applejack today with feeding the barynard animals and she didn't want to be late. Applejack was already helping the sheep with blankets and hot chocoalte when she got there - her hoofs crunching softly against the crisp morning snow. "Oh h'ey thereh sug'hcuwbe" Applejack greeted cordially "how'hre yuh feel'in on this'sa here morhnin? Tha'hnks fer taki'n care of appleblo'um an' er friends." "Its' nothing" responded twilight sparkle. "applejack-did you ever sleepwalk as a child?" Twilight inquired casually. "Suhr'e ah did pard'nr, most ponies wouh'dnt believe it but ah did furh yar's." Applejack responded "thehn ah lear'nud tha' th secret i'sta wurhk uhp'a sweat b'afore yeh hit'suh thu'h hay. Nerver wasuh' problem fer' me - wer'kin onha farm'n'all." "Fascinating" twilight sparkle jotted. The feeding and warming of the rest of the animals passed univentfilly and soon twilight thanked applejack for the advice aimably and returned to the library. She had the solution! -she was going to solve the issue scientifically by doing a test! She was going to sleep once without excersizing and once with excersizing and see what happeed each time. She laid down and went to sleep in the bed, where she had set up an alarm clock next to. She woke up and looked in the clock - it was 4:50 already! 2 hours had passed since she went to sleep - she gazed around at her serroundings - she was back in the library part of the library - and she had engulfed a whole pile of books! She preused them methodically - she had finished all the spell books for all the grades, all the books about common day spells and the spells about ancient equestrian nations. Twilight engulfed herself in thought and carefurly took notes on all the occurrences. When she had finished that she donned her cloak and boots and went out for a light jog in the crisp winter air. The snow crunched happily under her hooves and twilight enjoyed the quiteness of the landscape - it was really peaceful - like watching the sun rise over the clouds. While jogging she ran into rainbow dash who was mantaining the right cloud distribution. "Oh hi twilight!" greeted rainbow dash friendily - "watt are you doing?" she inquired. "I was just jogging before taking a nap, applejack recommended that I work upa sweat before hitting the hay." "in that case-" recommended rainbow dash "-you might want to try exhaleling with each step and imagine your'e scooping up snow with your hooves when you step - that'll help you work up a sweat" she concluded knowingly. "thanks rainbow dash!" thanked twilight humbly apreciative and inspired by her friend's ruggedness. She did what rainbow dash suggested and found that she was indeed excersizing much more intelsy. Soon she had worked up a nice sweat and she returned the library exilerated. She almost leapedt into bead and was soon sleeping soundly. She set the timer to go off like before just before she drifted into sleep. She dreamt that she was standing in an ancient castle and there were unicrons all around her going through their lives. She looked around and realized she was wearing a brown cloak to protect herself from the cold when suddenly she was acosted by starswill the bearded! His kindly old eyes stared out at her over his elongated white beared and wizard hat. His old voice whithered past his lips and twilight was able to make out the words "your'e so brave, I'm zoo proud of you" Twilight tried to respond but suddenly she felt like she was falling foreword and she woke up! BACK IN THE LIBRARY CHAIR! She looked down at the book she was reading - it was called "Eqiestrian societies of pegasuses, unicorns and earth-ponies. The book itself was opened to the chapter about a farewell party - twilight realized she could know the chapter down to the very last letter even though she hadn't read this book while conshious before. This book was about the celebration of princess platinum before she left on the bold expedition that would discover equestrian. She had stopped at a chapter that told about starswirl the bearded saying goodbye to his favorite student - how proud he was of her and how sorry he was that he could'nt go because he's olden frail. Twilight thought about all the other knowladge she had mysteriously aquired; she now knew all about battle strategies uesd by ancient pegusi - the old under-ground mining kingdom of the diamond dogs and some information about the reclusive mysterious yeties that lived in the montains before the unicorns lived there. Yet one word hung in the vastness of her mind like a windchime…

[AN: it ends on a cliffhanger! I really hope you like this new direction - I did like wrighting it! If you have any sugestions, do'nt be shy! comment! Thanks to all the commenters and thank you for reading the story and ebst wishes!]

chapter 3: a journey

(an: this is where the big quest begins! I hope you all enjoy the story and don't by shy about comenting on it if you have the time :) I also want to wish you a warm summer!)

Twilights' mind was buzzing with the implicatons of the idea she was slowly creating - her experience was too revolutonary and she knew it could cange all of equestrian with it! She overun everything once more to make sure hat it was all in order an then called spike. "Spike - would you mind taken a letter?" "no problem twilight" spike responded helpfully - taking feathers the phenix and ruffling his through his feathers. Eventually one came out with a non-paniful 'splorink!' and he dipped it in the ink as he jotted down faithfully twilight's oration "Dear princess celestia, I wanted to propose that I go on an expidetion to the long-lost kingdom of mayupa - even without my current mystery it would be a usefull way of finding out more about it. I would take lots of notes and bring back artifacts to incrase the sum of our knowladge - on top of that - the information could help me find out more about my habbit of sleep-reading. Your fiathfull student - Twilight Sparkle…" Spike finished the letter with a flourish and puffed on it - sending it out to princess in a puff of green smoke with wore through the sky like a whispy slime. Spike was just about to fall asleep when the letter returned and his body shook like a frightened alarm clock - when the letter SUDDENLY EXPLODED into the room. Twilight opened the leter amazedly and took a inquisitve gander at it. "My faithful student twiligth sparkle; this sounds to be a very good idea. I ill give you my ful blessig on these grounds - i'm sure you will doa graet job! From - Princess clestia. Twilight was enthuated at the news and imedaitly teleported around poniville to tell her friends about the news. First she arrived at sweet apple acres, where applejack had just finished bringing in the last days' bucket of apples - "w'elr he'llurh' twi'ligh, what brings'uh ye'w t' thuh farm's." - "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going of on an expedation for a while and I'm still having problems about sleeping. I was thinking maybe if I could see the history and culutes -i could leaner more about what it is that has been perventing me from understanding. I won't be around to help for a few days"-"Ah'seyuh - jeu's giv'uh me a min'nud pa'rdn'er, 'll be pa'ckeduh innu'h jiffy." - "what?" said twilight -confused as to why _applejack_ was packing. "well, yurh're clahre'ily hav'in' ah' prabl'urm right? an'uh yerh're plannin' 'n gohn'in off t'a' stra'hnje' place all a'lurhne, 'n adit'ton t'a' mah 'dvice not wurh'kin' out? I'm cuh'min' wit'hu yup' twilight, sur'uh 's oats 's oats." twilight was both surprised and touched that her hard-working friend was willing to join her on her expiditon at teh drop of a hat (AN: hey! I did'nt even plan that joke out! :)). She sat outside while she waited for applejack to pack. Soon the eat pony was finished and they went off to rainbow dashe's house - where she and thrust were having lunch of a sandwich and some diced fruit and some pranje juice - when the two ponies told them about the expedition, rainbow dash imieaditly said "well twilight - I'm coming too - theres now way i'd let two of my friends go off to celestia-knows-where by themselves!" - "Me too!" enjoined thrust comitedly. "Just give me a sec to pack up" rainbow dash concluded - "of course" twilight blushed - gratefull that she had friends who were helping her out when they did'nt have to - but rainbow dash knew hat they did have to because twilight was always nice to them and friends help each-other out when they're need to do. It only took a couple of minutes and soon they were off to pinkie's house. Before twilight could even go on a trip pinkie's eyes doubled and she said "oooOOOOOOOooh, just let me get packed." and she dashed off upsaits like a pink rocket and came down the stairs ten seconds later with a fuly packed bag and saluted twilight enthusiasticaly. "ready to go!" pinkie chirped energetically. The next stop was rarities' house - one by one all of twilight sparkles' friends insisted that they come along - whic felled the purple unicorn with a special inner warmpth. Soon it was time to go down the yellow path and into the mountains. The road's dirt and rocks crunched sligtly as the six ponies walked adjacently up the path, soon to be met with an obstacel! "the map says we should take a left" informed twilight sparkle, and everypony agreed and they all went left up a snowy mountain slope. The cold wiped the ponies like a blast of intanglible ice, but still the ponies continued onwards. SUDDENLY - apple jack was fidling with her backpack when suddenly the snow gave away and the unlucky pony slipped on the ice and it crumbled, sending her tumbling unexpectedly off to the side. The snow was so thick that the ponies could barely manage to see two feet in front of them, Rainbow dash's keen eyes were aple to detect Applejack -"applejack's over there!" Everypony came rushing over and helped the eat pony to her hooves - "a'hma fine" she comforted - "but wh'ersu'h th'uh path?" then everypony realized they couldn't detect where the path was! twilight sparkle cast a compass spell and was albe to find the right direction, "I think… ….it's this way." the unicorn said - pointing with her horn - and all the ponies began their march. The wind pulled on the ponies like a towel - but they still walked. Rarity was trying zoo hard to be brave - but it was clear to everypony else that she was'nt cut out for this - the poor unicorn was shaking like a paper leaf in a wind tunnel with air turblance. Soon the poor pony was overcome by the cold and she feel over - unconsios. Twilight and apple jack wasted no time - the two ponies pulled out a quilt they were going to use and put rarity on it like a sled. Applejack fastened it to her like a plough and - thanks to years on a farm - she pulled the deivce along and it barely slowed her down. Flutteryshy soon fanted from the wind. "I'llh ca'urry her" the earth pony offered - but rainbow dash stepped in considerately and said ' no, I'll take her" before lifting the unconshious pony onto her back with her unicorn magic. They carried bravely onward until pinkie pie fell down and curled up in a fetus position like a big snowball. Rainbow dash draped pinkie pie over fluttershy but just then applejack collapsed. Undebuted - rainbow dash carried the earth pony and her unicron. An hour later, twilight did'nt feel so good, the cold was getting too her and she didn't know how much longer she could go on. Rainbow dash colapsed vailantly into the snow and twilight felt the same. As her eyes closed she whished there was sompony to help her…. ….an hour later…. ….A bunch of yetis were working in the snow when one of them - turned to look at a tree and saw a siloutte of a pony pullying applejack's trundlebarge - he didn't tell who it was at this distance but he came over just as the pony turned to see him…. ….and COLLAPSED!

[AN: the mystery is tapering…. ….! thans to all the people who care enough abut the story to read and comment! I want to squeeze each one of you! hope you all enjoyed the chapter and thanks you for reading my story - have a nice day!]

chapter 4: the lost city

(an: the ponies arrive at somewhere big this chapter! - I do'nt want to spoil it so i'll just say that I hop you enjoy it!)

fluttershy a-woke to the face of a smiling yeti - 'oh my goodness' - went the pegusi. All the other ponies were aking up too to the amazement of each other - "the yeti says he saved us when we collapsed in the snow" then she turned to face the yeti "thank you" and the yeti said "I'm just glad I could help you out, I'd be happy to help out again if you need it!" but only fluttershy could understand him because she can understand animals. Soon the mane six were packed and they left down the other side of the mountain when all of a sudden twilight noticed a rock came loose and tumbled down next to her. Somehow…. ….she instantly knew something was wrong so she screamed 'AVALANCHE!' Just then rocks came tumbling down all around them. She wondered how she could have perdicted this except she couldn't - she was too busy dodging the boulders that were pounding the earth and rolling around like football players. They smashed the trees and obliterated the snow like a herd of wild gorillas and thrust was crushed to death because he had a narcalepsy attack. Rainbow dash was sad and wanted to scream 'no' but she knew she and her friends had to keep going. the wall of rocky avalanche was right behind them - just before a big canyon in the way. "Every-pony!-" shouted rainbow dash expertly "-you need to make this jump!". Applejack managed to jump off a tree and land just catching on to the edge with her teeth - rarity used her magic to help her jump and to catch onto the ledge just in time and she lifter herself and applejack over. Pinkie pie jumped like her legs were made of rubber and cleared the vaporous canyon easily when she said "boyoyoing!" fluttershy just flew over. Twilight sparkle leapt and then she looked down - the cayon was zoo big! and her jump wouldn't carry her! Her mind seemed to freeze like she was now drowning in water! Just then, she noticed that she had cast a spell that gave her wings! she flew over the cayon justin time before the rocks filled it in with a loud crash like a piano! The ponies took a minute to catch their breath - before they turned and saw: the city of mayupa!

The city was aweing - most of the buildings were made of a jet black stone, trimmed with azure and golden stones, there were rivers of oil fuel in trenches on each side fo the road and the oil was one fire!- providing light. There were piramnds on top of tall spiral colums and baths as big as houses! Atop the highest pyramid there was a large stone indoor room, with windows cloaked with strange cloth and strage ornamental diesgns, two figures and abox stood in the centre - illumintaed by the pale moonlight that shone in through a jet black skylight. One figure was dressed in a red tuscan with big eye paint and a sinister wig, the others' face was hidden behind a golden viser and a heavily paded white suit with a analogé clock where the cutie mark should have been. The box was long and glassy - with handles on it like a royal cart that people carry you on and wheels on the back - so it was like a combination of snow white's box and a whellbarow. "interesting…" - said the stallion - "…they made it here unfrozen - their power of friendship mutt have been strong…."

Somethings' wrong:" pondered twilight as the mane six walked down the street "I KNOW RIGHT? - where are all the ponies?" exhubered pinkie pie who finished twilights' thought - dipping her elongating her head into a house to look for ponies. Twilight turned around a corner and noticed something. it was like a big black colosseum and in front of it was a parking lot for boats that they used in the oil-fire canals like in venice. They seemed to be made of some kind of wood that didn't catch fire when it was put in the burning oil, and there was only one of them parked in a dock near the corner. Applejack was used to working with wooden stuff so she went over to identify it - gently placing her hoof on the seat of the boat surrounded by a river of fire. "I'htsu'h st'ill wh'arm." the earth pony shrewdly deducted -"s'uhm'p o'hny ah'mu'st'vuh ben' uhs'in it. - soon too". This sent twilight's head reading _-if there was some-pony in the abandoned city of mayupa? then who could it be?_ Rainbow dash suddenly had an idea "so our mystery pony used the boat near the colloseam right? maybe we could check the place for clues (an: it's a mystery inside a mystery! it just gave me a great idea about a story where the mystery the characters are doing is kept a mystery from the audience!) So everypony went inside of the colosseum after opening two large cleric doors. The thing was huge! with a big area like a football stadium with ramps and valleys and other things like in a bike-stunt course run by the anchent romans. Applejack leaned over a railing and looked inward noticing how the sand was distributed. It was kicked up all around, like it had been used…. ….SUDDENLY - the eat pony had a feeling like she was being watched by someone - or - or maybe something?! SUDDENLY - twilight sparkle got an insistent idea: "Everpony - we need to cheeck the catacombs under the roads!" she uncovered intelligently. "Whhhy do you say thahhht dahhling?" queried rarity intrinsically?"I DON'T KNOW?!" exclaimed twilight incredibly. All the ponies took the advice and went down into the catacombs. There were rows and rows and rows of icicle columns - or as twilight knew they were called - stalagtites - as big as ponies and stallions sticking up out of the ground like tomstones! Fluttershy started to shake and be terrified - this was like these horrible mean ugly odorous scary stories she head near the campfire when she was a filé - stories too horrible to mention to (an: its' called a troll - fiction in real life. People write scary stories about horrible things happening to innocent ponies - don't worry - I'll never try to hurt or scare any of the ponies or nice readers :)) Rainbow dash and rarity went over to comfort her and pinkie pie started to laugh because thats' what she does best! Applejack went over to make sure everypony was okay and twilight looked at the sight of all her friends being such good friends to on another a smiled a little even thogh it was scary - Just then - the ice on the closest ice collumn started to melt slowly - and it's steam started to spread across the wide catacombs. Everyponies' eyes tripled at the sight and they all took off back to the above ground - they left by a different entrance and when the came back there was a huge courtyard like the have in China! There were walls all around with big greek murales on them - it showed ponies - pegasuses unicrons and earth ponies all living together in a world that was icy and cold - but when one pony sat on a special slab of rock - everypony seemed to be able to see the sun through the snow - w_hat could it mean? - _pondered twilight interspectorally? in the middle of the courtyard there was a big circular pit whose bottom was on fire and above it there was a pyramid on stilts with a skylight that was directly above the pit in the ground with a staircase coming out of one end of the pyramid down to the courtyard. Twilight asked "does any pony else think we should go up there?" kindly - everypony shook their head - except for flutteryshy whose whole body was shaking - "yeyeyy-yeye-y-y-y-yes twilight." (AN: the poor stalagtites scared her really bad.) The ponies all turned to one another and started to march up the staircase when they heard a familiar voice at the top - "WELCOME VISITORS - TO THE GREAT CITY OF MAYUPA!"

[AN: i hope you liked the sppooky atmosphere! Anyone who is nice enough to take time and read and comment are awesome! I hoope you all find happiness in life!]

chapter 5: a mysterious secret revealed! the leadership behind the lost city of mayupa!

(an: This chapter doesn't have as much action, and I'm sorry for that. I promise there will be action soon in the story. I want to thank all the people who read my stories up to this point- I care about you and want to make you all happy so if you have feedback don't be shy? I don't own the rights to faust or her work.)

The voice was coming from the stallion - his sinister wig billowing in the wind behind him and maracabé eyeliner catching the early rays of the morning sun. "I cannot express enough of my gratitude in your visit-" he gesticulated minstrily "-With you here, we might be able to restore the city to what it once was and finally free us of the wendygoes!" "WHHHAAAAAT!" saud everypony and spike - shocked - "your'e friendship could be powerful enough to set us free! and free us from the curse of the icy wenygoos'!" he bowed imposingly to the six ponies - "you are the heroes of our city!- when you leave your image will be carved into the hall of heroes!" he poured slickly gesturing to a spherical door. After the ponies entered the tallest pyramid they saw…. ….STATUES! there were more than six hundred of them - each one carved hugely. "Amazing-" noted twilight scientifically "-the smallest of these statues is over two miles tall!" - "you are correct on both accounts TWILIGHT!" agreed the stallion sinisterly. Rainbow dash soared exploratively above their heads like a rainbow of lively hope - exploring the far ends of the chamber "there's enough room to carve at least a hundred more back there!" she vindicated clearly - "of course-" the stallion invited evilly "we had to keep expanding the area to fit more statues in - we didn't expect so many to be put in originally, I have a meal to prepare for you with the only other pony here…." he announced antisocially- please make yourself comfortable. Then the stallion turned and left down a carpet into the door on the far side of the chamber. "Another pony's here? I wonder who it could be?" pondered rarity earnestly "OOOH - Ooh - oOH - Ooh!" revealed pinkie pie - jumping up and down like a caffine-struck pogostick with adhdh - "maybe the other ponies' another explorer who got here before us." Twilight carefully turned this information over in her head like a delicate pancake "maybe, but then why wouldn't they return to equestrian? Is mayupa a nice place to live enough to not return to equestrian?" 'I don't think so" fluttershy meeked shyly "I mean - the buildings are nice - but there are no animals or plants or ponies or anything - I think that living here would get lonely." she concluded sympathetically-suddenly the door opened again AND IT WAS THE SAME STALLION! "The food is ready- this way" he announced darkly. The ponies were lead into a large black dining room and at the table was the same pony from before in astronaut armor and each seat had a plate of hot vegetable soup with some grapes on the side. The stallion took his seat next to the astronaut. "I'm afraid this is all we have - its hard to grow food in these conditions." he apologized insidiously "I hope you'll help us with that?" "W'hady'ya mh'ea'n b'dud'dy?" inquired applejack honestly - "Well, since you came here without being frozen - you must have a powerful friendship between each other - I was thinking. If you were willing, to use that power to free all the ponies frozen here and save their lives!" he proposed maliciously. "DON'T TRUST HIIIIIMMM!" screamed twilight - "why?" everypony inquired investedly - "I don't know?" she exclaimed confusedly. The stallion, who hadn't heard twilight continued "I hope you could use magic to do it" He continued sinisterly "But I'm afraid I'm not sure how mayupan magic works" clarified twilight honestly - "well then-" the stallion introduced forbiddingly "-allow me to introduce you to my personal friend: Dnomaid!" He shook the astronaut's hoof evilly and offered it to twilight. "Dnomaid happens to be our magic expert who knows all about mayupan magic. However she has taken a few vows - she will never remove her armor and she will not speak." he added unethically. Twilight shook hooves with Dnomaid and the two ponies sat back down to dinner. Rarity was being social - "On theh wayyy here, we happened to see a colosseum? were you recently there?" She inquisited politely "I was-" the stallion replied darkly "-I saw you coming and came here to put on dinner." The dinner was tasty and the grapes were cold - from the windygoes - but not untasty. When they had all finished eating - Twilight went off with Dnomaid to plan how to free all the ponies that were in ice. "but maybe you could explore the city some more, while I do the dishes?" He offered sinisterly. "That sounds like fun!" sprung pinkie pie, "I'd be up for that" said rainbow dash and rarity and fluttershy were in agreement too. The 5 ponies all left and went to the to the dangling gardens - Mayupa's biggest source of food - while twilight went to the library with Dnomaid. The two ponies sat in the middle of a tall stone room and huddled around some old stone tablets. Dnomaid hooved the unicorn a set of tablets and much to twilight's surprise - she was able to understand what was written on the tablets clear as ever! It was fascinating- like she was stepping back into a bath she had taken a long time ago. All the information seemed familiar to her, but she didn't know why…. ….suddenly twilight came to a revelation! She spread out a map of the city and realized that the city was built to have magic cast on it! "If even a normal unicorn performed a spell on the pedastol below the skylight and above the firepit -the magic could easily spread to all of the city!" Twilight revealed ingeniously "If my friends and I were to use a harmony spell- our power of friendship would free all the ponies frozen in the city. Twilight sparkle's eyes beamed at the thought of helping out so many ponies and soon she left the library, but before she did, she turned back and said "thanks for the help Dnomaid" because she is a god friend and appreciates help. While twilight was doing this the rest of the mane six were exploring the garden and talking. "Do you think twilight is alright? I mean with what she said at dinner today." Fluttershy asked caringly. "I'm sure she's just stressed out darling," reassured Rarity "I don't think we should bring it up with her so soon after it happened" Rarity advised because she is discreet like solid snake. "the important thing is twilight's trying to save the lives of everypony in the city. She's trying so hard and she needs us to stand by her even when we don't know everything. Because that's what best friends do for each other." Rainbow Dash noted wisely. Just then Twilight came onto the scene and said "everypony! I figured out how to save all the ponies frozen here! We just need to perform a harmony spell in that spot above the fire pit! If a normal unicorn could perform a spell that reached the entire city, then a harmony spell powered by all six of us should easily free everypony from being frozen!" Then all the ponies cheered "hooray!" for twilight's brilliant plan when the stallion stepped out from behind a peach bush. "If that's the case, then may I make a suggestion please?" he offered maliciously "I would suggest you go to bed early and do the spell tomorrow. That way you can do the big spell on a full night's sleep and minimize the chances that something could go wrong…" he concluded foully. The stallion led the six ponies to the bedrooms of the heroes where they would be sleeping tonight. It was round with nice open air and the walls were silk curtains separated by stone collums and the fire rivers made a pink glow on the silk. In the middle of the bedroom there were six beds which were also made of silk. The ponies all got into the beds and wished each other a pleasent's nights sleep.

[AN: the next chapter continues the mystery! thanks to all the readers cause you're the best and deserve your dreams! I know you're in mine :)]

chapter 6: twilight sparkle's dream ~

Twilight was standing in the middle of a crowded assembly hall - packed with unicorns of every shape and size listening to one unicorn speak. "Everypony, lend me your ears! I have discovered the true cause of this icy plaque that begets us all!" One pony shouted out - "we already know it's because those no good pegusi have blocked the sun with their clouds!" loudly, but the other pony just shook his head "You are mistaken to believe such a conspiracy! The icy mares that gallop through the skies are a result not of the pegasi or the earth ponies," he ministered commandingly and casted his hoof in the air like a high-fice "but of the sun itself!" everypony exploded into rumors at this new declaration. "the sun is running out of fuel and it's power to heat the earth is growing weaker. That's why it's so cold here and why there's nowhere we can go to where it will be better." Twilight puzzled at this -'but that's not true either, the real reason is all the fear between the different tribes of ponies' - so why was this stallion saying that the windigoes were a result of the sun dying? but didn't speak because the unicorn was still talking and twilight is polite and respectful -"As unicorns, we must be ones to refuel the sun and restore peace to the world" he concluded forcefully. Everpony in the crowd instantaneously burst into applause and cheering…. ….everypony but one, that is. Starswirll the bearded looked just as confused as twilight did. Twilight opened her mouth to tell everypony the truth but when she tried to she suddenly woke up! She woke up on the steps to a museum - written in the snow were the words "Don't trust him!" written out in the snow with a pole. There was a pole and a small candle lying right next to twilight sparkle and beneath the words there was an arrow pointing into the museum. Twilight, curious and cold, stepped into the museum while carrying the candle. The doorway had an arch on it that said: "To our heroes - what they've done will protect us until the next heroes are discovered - we'll never forget what you've done for us. The walls were covered with wall mosaics of ponies planting and harvesting food and there was a pony standing on the ground with a line connecting it to the sun. Just then, twilight saw the outline of a pony scuttle across the floor nearby. The pony's silhouette went out of the museum and twilight decided to follow it. She followed it past the colosseum and into a new building with lots of pillars. On top of the small building there was a statue of a pony holding a cup and twilight knew from experience that it used to be a fountain but froze up. She saw the outline of the pony duck down a flight of stairs that were squarely spiral. Finally at the bottom of the stairs twilight stopped. She was in a long room and the pony was kneeling close to a wheelbarrow-box positioned at the end of the room. Twilight could just barely catch a gimp of the pony without exposing herself but it was clear that that pony was Dnomaid. Dnomaid was speaking too! 'I thought she had taken a vow of silence and never removing her armor.' twilight recalled intelligently, listening closely to the distant pony. She could make out the words - "I promise you won't be this way for much longer, if these ponies can unfreeze every pony here, they'll probably have you cured too." It was the voice of a mare! Twilight discovered "If twilight can take care of an Ursa and build a wingpower gague with her magic, she'll be able to cure you no problem. Twilight was shook with the intensity of this new revelation! She had never told her name to the stallion or to Dnomiad, so how could she know that information? Then Dnomaid turned to leave and twilight had to run up the staircase and hide behind a tapestry. Twilight went outside to follow her but the pony was NOWHERE TO BE SEEN! Just then twilight saw a familiar friend fly over to her. "Hi rainbow dash!" greeted twilight nicely "what are you doing out so late?" "I couldn't sleep inside with so many stars out, and while I was lying on the roof of our room I saw you. Are you alright twilight? You look surprised about something." the awesome pegasus queried caringly. "I think Dnomaid knows who we are" twilight informed her friend. "So, she somepony we know then." Rainbow dash interceded deductively "I don't think its anything to worry about," she added intelligently "I'm sure they have a good reason for hiding who they are, and really, they must be nice, since we really don't know anypony whose all that bad." Twilight knew what her alicorn friend said was true, there was no way this pony was living with them but how did she knowSHE DIDN'T KNOW!? The two ponies finally arrived back in the bedroom and the two ponies went asleep. Twilight dreamed; she was in a rotunda and she was stepping out into the dangling gardens with their fruit which hung from racks, grates and flying buttresses. She stepped out of the rotunda and found herself facing two guards! But not canterlot guards! They were also wearing wigs and their armor ended at the neck with a chain-mail-furry-fluffy-tuft-lining. Their wigs covered their entire faces except for two eye holes and they wore heavy yarn capes - twilight was smart and she knew it was to keep them warm. They had strange weapons, not like the nice ones used by the royal canterlot guard, and they stepped aside to let her through - bowing slightly in a respectful way. She looked out over the garden and saw the outline of an astronaut suit pulling the SAME BOX TWILIGHT HAD SEEN EARLIER! Dnomaid went over to the pyramid where the stallion lived, but she couldn't bring the box up the stairs by herself. Twilight is a nice pony so she went over to help. "would you like some help with that? Dnomaid?" The astronaut pony turned and looked around left and right and back to twilight then right and left and behind her and up just to be sure twilight was really talking to her. "If you're talking to me sir, then I'd love the help. I'm just confused because my name's NOT DNOMAID." she thanked pleasantly. Twilight felt surprised like if she had just been told that spike was really an otter not a dragon! If her name wasn't really Dnomaid, then why does the stallion want us to call her that? thought twilight as she used her magic to help the astronaut to carry her stuff up the staircase. When they got to the top they found the same stallion standing at the top of the stairs. "Hello, weary traveller," he crooned unspeakably "what brings you to the kingdom of mayupa?". "Actually," said the astronaut pony "I'm trying to find the cure for a disease and I'm looking for a place to stay."

"You came to the right place!" the stallion affirmed abominably "I happen to know all about mayupan magic and would be happy to assist you in your search for a cure. Here, let me show you the library…" he offered ominously. "Oh! and I see you met my brother on the way up. He's the botanist architect, you really should ask him to make some of his famous appleberry and rose chowder!" The stallion introduced insidiously as he led the astronaut out into the library….

[an: I can't wait to write about twilight sparkle and her friends waking up all the ponies! I promise it will happen in the next chapter. Thanks for all the people who read this story: go out and do something nice for yourself because you all deserve it :)]

chapter 7: the big day!

(an: here we go!)

twilight woke up to see the smiling faces of all her friends. "ah're' yhu'h' reh'ead'y p'rarud'nere?" applejack offered encouragingly. "I sure am" said twilight and everypony cheered and went out onto the platform above the fire pit. The stallion was waiting for them "this is the spot." he advised maniacally. The main six all stood in a circle on the platform and twilight did the harmony spell. A wave of rainbow energy shot out of the main six like a boomerang and spread through the whole city and the main six saw the smiling faces of thousands of ponies pooring out from the catacombs, their hair all wet because the ice had melted. Kids, adults, bakers and teenaged ponies all went into the courtyard to look at the mane six who had saved their lives. The stallion spoke to the crowd maliciously "dear everypony, it is thanks to these brave souls that you are all free now from your seven hundred years!" Everypony clapped and cheered for a while before the stallion continued darkly "they have demonstrated themselves to be of tremendous power. When we sacrifice them to power the sun! their powerfulness will keep the sun going forevermore! and because we're going to sacrifice six instead of three, there will now not be one suns! but two!" WHAT!? said all of the mane six while the crowed erupted into uphoria. Just then a bunch of evil guards came and threatened them with their weapons. They were like pistols that shot hallo-point-armor-peircing-thermite-enhanced-solid -slugs at a rate of 2,000,000,000 rounds per minute and the stallion said "when I carve their statues to add to the hall of heroes, I will make sure they are the most beautiful of all!" he roared evilly. Just then a blur came and judo'ed the weapon out of one of the guards' hooves. "Dnomaid! why are you doing this? don't you see after the resistance hid the sacrifices and we couldn't do it? We were frozen and this will prevent this from ever happening again!" "I. led. the. resistance!." said Dnomaid as she disarmed another guard using her kung fu. "You betrayed me all along!" thundered the astounded stallion astonishingly! The guards were distracted so rainbow dash used her speed and magic to disarm the rest of the guards and pick up the rest of the ponies and fly away (an: except for fluttershy because she can fly). As they were flying over rainbow dash's keen eyes noticed something. "Something's wrong with the crowd." She informed quickly, "they don't seem to be like normal ponies" Twilights eyes expanded so big that her pupils hit the sides of her eyes and she got a headache as she said "it's the wendigoe's curse. If you are frozen by them, you're doom to live as a zombie even if you escape!" Just hearing the word zombie made fluttershy go into shock and she feel screaming down into the colosseum. Nopony heard her because they were traveling so fast and the wind was in their ears and they were going so fast that twilight's hat flew off and landed on rarity's head instead! Soon they landed hidden inside a clock tower and it was then that rainbow dash realized that fluttershy - WASN'T WITH THEM! There was no way she was going to leave a friend behind, so she told spike to send her a letter if something went wrong and she took off into the sky like a heroic falchion.

meanwhile, fluttershy awoke in the colosseum to see the crowd cheering at her. In one corned there was fluttershy, and in the other was thrust who is now a zombie. fluttershy was scared and said "please, sir. Can we please not fight?" But the zombie kept coming closer. Fluttershy backed into a wall and said "I don't want to fight, please can't we just talk or be friends?" she offered timidly but the zombie just groaned and was almost close enough to bite her. Fluttershy was starting to panic when she remembered rainbow dash's words of advice to her: "sometimes you've just gotta stand up for yourself fluttershy." fluttershy nodded and tried to be brave. just when the zombie was almost about to attack, Fluttershy closed her eyes tight and screamed and karate kicked the zombie so hard his jaw flew off and punched a hole in the wall. Without the jaw to connect the head to the neck, the two tumbled in opposite direction - rendering thrust-zombie twice as dead and everything was all right for now. Just then rainbow dash came down and congratulated her friend - "great job fluttershy, you stood up for yourself! I'm so proud of you". Fluttershy was shaking and looked sad. "I hurt a pony.." she said ashamedly. Rainbow dash leaned over and wrapped her hoof around fluttershy's neck to comfort her "you never really hurt anypony," she comforted caringly "that pony was never really alive to begin with" Fluttershy sniffled, then smiled "thanks rainbow dash," the pegasus said appreciatively "you always know what to say to cheer me up" Then the two pegasus flew back off to the tower….

while that was going on, rarity had come to a shocking conclusion! "Twilight dahhling, i believe I know all the spells from your library books." "YOU TWO?" incredulated twilight! "yes dahhling, ever since i put on your hat it's been like I've known the spells and about the mayupan history too." "How can this be?" questioned twilight awestruckedly. "That's because the hat contains the soul of a pony who used to live, he studied the books through twilight and putting the hat on gives you acess to his knowledge and memories." revealed Dnomaid. "How do you know?" asked twilight curiously. "Because that one stallion was the first sacrifice, the one the resistance couldn't save, the one I couldn't save…." she lamented "If we failed to save the life of a pony, we put their souls into hats so they could live on, I did the spell, and knitting myself." The astronaut informed them. "Dnomaid…. ….I saw you in my dreams, the memories of this pony, and last night you were carrying a box around, what was in that box?" The astronaut kneeled her head ashamedly "My younger sister, who has moon-fever." Just then a zombie threw a rock and it knocked of the astronaut helmet off Dnomaid. Spike instantly used magic fire to create a barrier that would scare off the zombies for a while. "That should hold them off for a while." the dragon said as he slapped his hands together vertically, but nobody responded. Because they were all too shocked and looking at the true face of Dnomaid without the helmet. "How can this even be?" queried rarity - "wh'ah't in's th'huh nhu'hame f'h h'oatsuh'…." responded applejack confusedly. "I should have known all along." said twilight supposedly. The astronaut shook out her purple curly mane and said:

"Yes, it is I:

Rarity."

[An: i'm sorry the story didn't go as expected, but that was my goal. My other goal was to make a scarier villain and if you're upset then don't worry because the story has a happy ending :)]

chapter 8: the unraveling!

"How can you be me?" queried rarity to the other rarity. "To be more exact, I'm a future version of you." said future rarity - when she said this spike turned around at the sound of two rarities and was shocked! one of his eyes looked at the old rarity on his left and the other looked at the future rarity on his right and then each eye tried to look at the other rarity but they clonked in the middle and gave him a headache. "You see-" said future rarity "sweetie bell was having fun on nightmare night when she happened to fall into a pool of moonlight that was especially strong that night. Soon she caught moon-fever and went unconscious - princess luna told me the only way to cure her was to bring her as close to the moon as possible - so twilight used her incredible intelligence to build a rocket ship. I had to learn all sorts of survival skills and training before sweetie bell and I were ready for takeoff, but when we left, we were sucked into a black hole and got spat out near ancient mayupa. When I landed I tried to work with the mayupans to find another cure, but I couldn't just let them sacrifice ponies and do nothing about it - so I started the resistance in secret while still trying to cure my sister." she informed regrettably "now if you'll excuse me, I need to rescue sweetie bell"

"NO!" said twilight taking rarities hoof in her's "_we_ need to rescue sweetie bell. I saw you last night and I know where she is" Rarity started to taer up - "Oh twilight applejack spike rainbow dash fluttershy pinkie pie, I missed you all so much!" and they all had a big group hug :)

Meanwhile, the stallion was jumping up and down in frustration - screaming darkly "NO!NO!NO!NO!N!ON!O!N!O!ON!NO! HOW COULD YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?" he antagonated one of the evil guards - grabbing him by the nose and ear and shaking hid head back and forth maliciously. "BRING ME MY GREATEST WARRIOR!" he agressored loudly. The doors flew open and a creature walked out. He had a curly nose and mouth and his ears were triangle shaped and his tail was y shaped and he was wearing the same eyeliner as the villain. "Dundeé, my greatest warrior!" he ordered commandingly "find the mane six and bring them to me!" he said while raising his hooves over his head and swiping them down menacingly so they made a booming sound on the stone tiles. The creature turned and ran - leaping out of the building like a ninja in the dark….

The mane six were sneaking through the catacombs quietly when suddenly normal rarity got an idea: "there's a secret passage over here!" she said - tapping a brick in the wall and causing the entire wall to slide out like a bookcase. "how did you know?" questioned pinkie pie curiously - "I just knew it, I think it's because of the hat" informed rarity politely - "of course!" said future rarity "the pony in that hat used to be the city's botanist architect! It makes perfect sense that he would know where the secret passages were!" - "I'm so smart!" complimented normal rarity: and everypony laughed as they went inside the secret passage. "We don't want anypony following us!" future rarity suggested smartly as she shot a grappling hook out of her astronaut armor to close the wall behind them - "good thinking, future rarity" congratulated twilight as she used her magic to make light for all of them too see by. The ponies travelled quietly through the passages until they came to the stone room where sweetie bell was in the box. Rainbow dash placed her hoof on future-rariteies shoulder comfortingly; "Don't worry rarity -" she said comfortingly "I'm sure twilight and the rest of us will find a cure" Future-rarity smiled hopefully and said "I bet you're right rainbow dash" while she hitched up the cart to her astronaut suit. "I have a plan!" announced twilight softly as all the ponies gathered around her in a huddle: "we'll split up into two teams; one team will take sweetie bell somewhere safe." she introduced when fluttershy suddenly said "oho. I just got an idea if anypony's interested." "Of course we're interested fluttershy" chirruped pinkie pie. "well, we could maybe leave sweetie bell with the yetis. They said they wouldn't mind helping us again." The pegasus offered timidly. "So it's decided then," concluded twilight "spike, fluttershy, future rarity and rainbow dash will take sweetie bell to the yetis and myself, pinkie pie, rarity and applejack will go after the stallion and get him to face his own music!" Then everypony put their hooves in the middle and slammed them down on the floor and then leapt in the air like in a sports movie and pinkie pie did a backflip for extra pizzaz. Then the two groups split up; team 1 headed out another secret passage in order to escape the city unseen, while group 2 went up the stairs to confront the stallion. Team one managed to slip out of the secret passage and into the street without being noticed. They quietly made their way out and down a side alley and were just about to head out when a zombie spotted them and roared. All of a sudden hundreds of zombies came pouring out of the buildings like a river of moaning undead-fishes. "Quickly!" said rainbow dash; "there's a fireproof boat, everypony jump in it!" The four ponies and sweetie bell leapt through the air and landed on the wooden gondola. The zombies moaned and groaned but dared not approach the fire rivier that was sheparding the ponies to safety. Soon the river ended and the ponies jumped out near the end of the city - far away from all the zombies. "I'll go on ahead and let the yetis know about sweetie bell" offered rainbow dash helpfully before flying off. Just then a shadow crossed the rest of team 1 as a figure leapt over their heads and landed in front of their paths. The figure loomed over them like an alicorn and waved it's arms around intimidatingly "LET US DO BATTLE! MANE SIX!" Dundee grumbled deeply!

Meanwhile group two were able to sneak past all the zombies thanks to a disguise spell twilight had invented and used on them and soon they were at the steps of the central pyramid above the fire pit. As they reached the top of the stairs and entered into the hall of heroes - they noticed that the stallion was all alone. "Hey meanie! It's time to face THE JUSTICE!" announced pinkie pie cheerily - "you're wrong!" the stallion boomed, twirling around to face the ponies "the city of mayupa will grow! we will march on the earth!" he roared evilly as a bunch of guards climbed out from inside of the statues and potato-tossed him out of the room to safety. It was a bad situation: group 1 was staring down the warrior dundee and group 2 was now surrounded by guards with their evil weapons.

Meanwhile future Rarity stood up and looked the mean bully right in the eyes. "Applejack - you take scootaloo and go as fast as you can, I'll hold him off." "H'sureh t'hing' p'drade'er" she confirmed understandingly. Rarity turned to Dundee and the two bowed to each other as a sign of strength. The then brutish monstrosity leaped - trying to bench-press rarity, but the unicorn rolled nimbly out of the way. The monster got angered and bellowed his head and charged - but the unicorn dodged again and Dundee spun widely in a burnout into the snow. His head popped back up and he snarled his curly lips at the unicorn when a blur stepped between them. "Future Rarity, you should take care of you sister, I'll hold him off." - "Thanks friend" thanked rarity admiringly of her friend and then turned to the brute and said "you were a worthy contemptant!" before running off to rejoin the rest of the group. Now it was just Dundeé…. ….and rainbow dash!

[An: All the readers should have their wish come true! When I'm not doing anything I keep drawing what I imagine you look like - it's my little way of thanking you for reading my story and maybe commenting if you have the time! :) Have a nice day!]

chapter 9: confrontations of the mind

(AN: I forgot to mention in my last concussive AN that I drew you all with big smiley faces - I hope it makes your day better ! :)

The giant gorilla monster and rainbow dash walked in circles around each other and looked into eachotheres eyes (Dundee did it scowlingly but our hero did it bravely). Soon Dundee lunged at rainbow dash but the pegasus just dodged. "Why are you doing this?" She inquired sympathetically as he rolled toward her menacingly "Because, my friend the stallion told me too and that's what friends do for each other!" he battlecried ignorantly. "Are you sure he's you're friend though?" The pegasus queried as she zipped under his arm as he tried to shoulder-clothesline her. "Of course he is!" the stallion punched unsurely. "Really?" queried rainbow dash as she flew out of reach of his japanese kicking "-because it sounds to me like you do all these things for him when he does nothing for you. Friends are supposed to help each other out and this pony is just calling you a friend so you'll do stuff for him." Dundeé's eyes split open like ripe bananas and he collapsed at the revelation "You know something," he realized selflessly "you're right, I never realized it but that stallion never acted like a friend" Rainbow dash grinned encrustingly "I doubt that that stallion has been a friend to anypony. But you can be my friend if you want" she offered kindly her hoof. The gorilla monster took it gladly and said "Thanks rainbow dash for giving me a second chance. Is there any way I can help you?" The pegasus turned to look at the hoofprints in the snow of her friends and the cart that had sweetie bell in in it, "but for now I need to find my friends" She said departing with a cloud of rainbow dust. "Best of luck!" chorused Dundee as she left.

Meanwhile the rest of the ponies were all surrounded by guards on all sides and Twilight sparkle had an idea - she cupped her hooves over her mouth and suddenly there were hundreds of voices coming from every direction saying things like "DROP YOUR WEAPONS" and "LEAVE THE PONIES ALONE" and "STOP YOU SCANTILY SCOUNDRELS!" the guards all covered their ears and eyes with their ears and ran around in circles and then they all ran out the door and landed together in a big heap like a campfire. "Golly Twilight," Pinkie pie bounced intriquedly "How on equestria did you do that?" "Well I used ventriloquism" she divulged intelligently "I knew that the huge size of the room would amplify the audio waves and tune the frequencies of the echoes, so if I used ventriloquism, then all the guards would get frightened and leave." Everypony congratulated twilight on the quick thinking and they all ran off in pursuit of the stallion behind it all. They followed a trail of footprints he had left that led them outside to the outside - but then that trail led them back inside. "Urghghge!" groaned present rarity "Thhahht Rhascahl couhd be in any of these statues. I think we need a plan before we try anything." She noted potently. "Good idea! Oooh let's camp out on the roof so we can see the whole city!" Pinkie pie energysplosioned happily "that way if he tries to leave we'll see him!" "That's a great idea pinkie pie!" congratulated Twilight sparkle friendly and the five of them all moved and set up a camp on the top of the pyramid and they all had fun roasting marshmallows and eating smores while they waited for their friends to return, and they all took turns passing the hat around so each of them would know what the hat knew.

Meanwhile the rest of the team had dropped of sweetie bell safely in the hands of the yetis and the turned to go back to the city when they saw hundreds of guards running in every direction in a panicky gaze with their eyes and ears covered by their ears and they were pumping into each other and falling over and screaming terrifiedly. "We'll have to sneak past them," deduced rainbow dash intuitively "everypony follow me". The ponies all leaned against a wall and held hooves and conga'ed past the guards without singing so they'd pass unseen and unheard. One guard almost heard them and leaned over to listen more closely to what he thought he heard but spike leaned in and whispered "BOO!" in his ear and the guard freaked out. He yelped and jumped backwards and fell on another guard which started a domino chain. The mane six used this as a chance to slip into a catacomb undetected. It was dark underground and the halls were now really big because there were no zombie popsicles blocking up the sides of the passage. Their footsteps echoed of the miles of empty hallway as they trotted down the catacombs and made their way back to the camp where all the ponies were having a picnic but they had to be quiet or else all the zombies would notice them. The ponies passed the hat around one more time while they all tried to come up with a plan to stop the evil stallion once and for all. "If the hat has all the memories of that pony," fluttershy introduced between taking niblets of a lettuce and yogurt sandwich "maybe we could look into the hat's memories and try to find out more information about it" she humbled quietly before curling up into a ball. "That's a great idea!" congratulated rainbow dash who patted her friend on the back "and since twilight is the one whose remembered the most memories, then she should be the one to use her magic on it and try and delve into the past." So twilight put on the hat but she wasn't sleepy or in the memories yet so fluttershy hummed a tune and soon twilight sparkle was traversing the halls of the memory lane. She was in the body of the hat and she was walking towards the stallion, who turned to face her forbodingly and said "How did she enjoy your appleberry and rose chowder? Brother?" he queried darkly. "She seemed to enjoy it just fine brother" said twilight except she didn't really say it she was only occupying the body of the pony who was now made up of the hat. Just then a guard came running in out of breath before saluting the stallion. "SI! I have news to report about the sacrifices! Sir!" The stallion kicked back rolled back and froth on a pouffy roman-couch as the guard scratched his head and said "actually the resistance is escaping! With the sacrifices!""BALLISTIC FOOLS! AFTER THEM!" the stallion shouted tyrantly The guards then ran out and as they left and twilight/hat pony came up to the villain and said "If you knew what they knew (if you walked a mile in their hats), you'd sing a different tune." The villain considered this and then muttered "possibly" maliciously and then he turned and woke up in a totally different dream. She saw the stallion about to sacrifice a bunch of ponies when the heroic Dnomaid (aka future rarity) rolled in and broke the prisoners free of their bonds and then she turned on the stallion. "Wait, spare my life, I'l do anything!" he wailed and squalled as he was edged off and began to fall but rarity caught his hoof and looked him in the eyes and said "Everypony deserves a second chance-" she said before she lifted him up to safety. "Next time I'll put guards in!" he announced and then he ran away. Twilight suddenly woke up from the dream and she looked over and applauded future rarity "you did the right thing" the unicorn congratulated warmly to her friend, "and furthermore, I have a plan, Rarity, did the resistance have a secret base where operated out in?" Future rarity thought about it for a minute and then said - "why yes, I suppose that would be correct. We lived under the fire pit where we would cure the dying and tend to the wounded in the sacrifices." Twilight sparkle's eye slit up like they had been painted with glitter except it was magic glitter that would not hurt your eyes. "Then that's where we need to go!"

[an: I'm looking foreword to hearing hat you guys think of it! I hope you all live happily ever after and enjoyed my story! Can't wait to share the next chap with you!

chapter 10: it all comes together

(an: I'm gonna try something different this chapter; a friend told me I could keep the tension by writing in the second person subjective! that way, we don't focus too much on twilight and what her plan is so the mystery even more so!)

The mane six all crowded around the platform above the fire pit. "Are you sure this is safe?" questioned fluttershy sacredly but respectfully. "Of course it is" answered future rarity reassuringly "with the help of the stallion in the hat, we were able to reconstruct the fire pit so that it was an illusion instead, it's only ribbons that are red being blown up by the wind, see?" Rarity said, backflipping off the platform and doing a swan dive into the fire pit. "ohohohoho! - Me next" exhuberated pinkie pie - doing a cartwheel jump over the side. "CANONBALL!" she joyed as she fell in a ball. Fluttershy was next - she wound up her courage like a stopwatch and jumped over the edge and she scream but she didn't because fluttershy is brave. Applejack tipped down her hat over her eyes - bit her lip and snorted and lept inside - bracing herself as she had done back on the farm. Spike and rarity jumped at the same time and spike got scared and clung to rarity tightly and she let him hold on even though she already had a boyfriend (even though she was boyfriend's with hoof jackman). All six of them landed over a cloth stretchd over a swimming pool so they landed and bounced safely onto the ground like a trampoline with a splash! It was a oblong rotunda with hospital beds and supplies in one corner. Another corner seemed to look like a closet and the last one had a mirrored chandelier that they were using as a hat rack. "Here we are!" confirmed future rarity "this si where everything happened, in the corner over there are some supplies left over from where the rocket ship crashed." "great!" affirmed twilight happily "can you take me over to the hat rack, there's something I would like your help on…. ….and normal rarity, do you think you could help us out too?" Rarity beamed just like old times - "Ahll be happy too darling!" and she skipped happily over to her friends to help them out. While twilight and rarity and future rarity were working on it, the rest of the mane six decided to relax and go for a fun swim. "That's a brilliant plan twilight!" exclaimed future rarity her face expanding with shock. "I agree," agreed normal rarity "but what about all the hundreds of zombies and that Dundeé chap? We can't forget about them" Rarity contributed helpfully. And then everypony in that corner all leaned in in a football's huddle and started talking intensely. Fluttershy was enjoying herself - after all the scariness with the zombies and cannibals, it was nice to enjoy a good hot bath-pool as she was doing the duck stroke. Rainbow dash was flying underwater in a practice wonderbolt technique she knew to keep herself in tippy top shape. Pinkie pie was floating on a raft and playing the bongo drums considerately to muffle the zombies' moans. She was also making them orange juice to snack! Applejack was taking a nap. All three of them had smores and chattered while they waited for twilight and rarity and future rarity worked together. Soon it was nighttime and all had their dinners before everypony but twilight, rarity and future rarity went to sleep. The others stayed up late into the night whisping to each other in the hushed light from a single candle in the hatalabra. Rainbow dash went over and offered help, but they all said that they were fine even though they really appreciated the gesture. So she went up and flew up towards the crisp evening air. -The stars look different here- she noted obervatorily. She ended up passing the time by connecting the light's serene glows into pictures. Soon it was daybreak and twilight and the two rarities were not tired in the most slightest way because she had used a caffeine spell to fill them with energy. The mane six all huddled together and twilight explained her plan - "that's a great plan twilight!" complimented rainbow dash amiably - "thanks rainbow dash" - blushed twilight sparkle "-that means a lot to me". "No sense waiting around anymore," concluded future rarity scientifically "let's go!" So they all left, but before they left twilight picked up a bag that was about as large as a burlap sack and slung it over her leg-shounder before she rejoined the rest of them and began trotting heroically.

Meanwhile the stallion was crouching and thinking about what he could do. He went over to his room and went under the bed where he had hidden a box. The box was about the size of a shoebox and it was made of evil gold with black jewelry hanging off the top like a tablecloth. He opened it and there was…. ….a hat inside! He reechoed deep inside 'till his hoof found what he was looking for; trixies' hat! Except on closer inspection it was just a normal wizard hat like most unicorns wear. He pulled the hat over his head and eyes. "STARWSILL THE BEARDED! ANSWER ME!" he roared beratingly. "wh-h-ah-hwo-h-w-h-hat t-t-ttt-it-t-isss it sir?" inquired and old and scared sounding voice from the hat "I have enemies, how should I smite them?" he demanded darkly. Starswirl never would try and help someony who was evil so he didn't say anything, but instead he tried thinking up what the creuel tyrant would do next and how to help the mane six overthrow him. "Your thoughts betray you!" the stallion gloated grotesquely "now I know I should bring the statues to life so they can hunt for the mane six." he concluded cowardly "Dunde´!" he shouted maliciously as his warrior climbed out from under the bed also - "Go to the library and activate the spell that will make the statues in the hall of heroes come to life so they can all look for the mane six. DO IT NOW!" he orchestrated awfully and Dundee hat to flatten his ears to make the mean voice less painful to hear but he still obeyed him and left. Then the stallion turned his head back to facing the hat he was wearing. "NOW when I capture them and do as I plan, you we be there to see it all unfold!" he announced manaiachly and laughed with his head thrown back and shaking his hooves in front of his face. "NO! please don't hurt them" begged the wise and kind and sweet old pony in the hat but the stallion was listening too loud to hear them.

Meanwhile the mane six had entered back onto the streets and were being real quiet when twilight leaned over to rainbow dash and whispered "rainbow dash, you and pinkie and spike head over to the dangling gardens, you know what to do." Of course responded the blue alicorn helpfully "the hat gave me just the spell to use" "you took the words right out of my mouth rainbow dash" twilight sparkle laughed merrily. Then all the ponies laughed together before they split up and went their separate ways. Soon pinkie pie and rainbow dash were at the dangling gardens and rainbow dashe's unicron horn began to glow and all the trees and bushes started to grow as well. They all suddenly stood up and started marching towards the zombies - some of them intwining their leaves to they made a marching was that was marching foreword and blocked the progress of the zombies. Other plants started to climb the city walls and make walls of their own somewhere else. Rainbow dash then cast another spell which made their bark and leaves as hard as diamonds before she said "these walls of plants should act like cow-gates so we don't have to worry about those pesky zombies for a while" the pegasus said while patting pinkie pie on the back. But that was when the statues started climbing out of the hall of heroes. and both ponies faces sank like stones in a river when they saw it. But then pinkie pie made her jaw square and stared deeply into rainbow dashe's eyes with untempe'sted determination. "We need a distraction" she announced so she jumped into the middle of the zombie hordes and began playing her one pony band equipment. All the zombies had never heard the sound of music before so they were all completely entranced and pinkie pie was able to turn them into a marching band. The statues were all drawn to the sounds of hundreds and hundreds of tubas playing in mathematical perfection with each other. While the statues were walking over the rest of the group went upstairs to the stallion's pyramid and snuck in undeturbed and rainbow dash flew in discreetly and joined them. Pikie pie's mind was raging furiously - she needed a way to escape the statues and fast. Suddenly she spied a zombie carrying a confetti cannon. She continued conducting the marching band by throwing her baton but she also used a smaller hidden baton to send secret signals to the pony with the confetti cannon. She climbed inside the confetti cannon and the pony shot her out like a circus trick and she landed inside the of the pyramid. But the zombies got sad, how could they have a marching band with no conductor? Pinkie pie smiled and churriped to all of them "You sillies, yo don't need me. Your conductor was inside you the whole time" she reminisced fondly "in here" she said happily pointing to her heart. The zombies all felt much better and resolved to spend the rest of their lives traveling the world and bringing free marching band music to everypony the met. Dundee saw that the distraction was finished and he knew that now was the time to get to strike while the iron was hot! he went back into the library and de activated the spell so the statues were no longer looking for the mane six and he also activated another spell that pulled the blinds down over all the windows and doors so the stallion couldn't escape.

Meanwhile the stallion was getting desperate, soon the ponies would be here and there was nothing he could do about it. His foul mind was spinning like a washing machine- what he needed was a hostage. Then he got an idea! He would use THE READER OF THE STORY! he reached out of the computer screen with one hoof in an effort to grab the reader but pinkie pie jumped out and deflated his hoof while shouting "their the readers! nothing bad should ever happen to them. We love you :)" and it was very funny because pinkie was breaking the fourth wall. Just then the door broke down and the mane six and future rarity and spike leapt through. "You're rain of terror ends here you foully bad pony!" twilight sparlkle announced while pulling the bag over the villain and tying it tight. They all knew it would work because it wasn't just any ordinary bag; it was a bag made from all the pony-soul-hats sewn together so the bully would experience all the fear he put the ponies through and all the hats were working together to keep him from escaping. Then twilight turned to face the hat lying on the floor and said "hellow starswirl the bearded, it's nice to finally meet you in person" she said pulling the hat on on top of the other hat - "I hope we can be friends". The old hat started to cry at the kindness this pony had shown him "I think I would like that twilight sparkle, thank you all so much." And then all the ponies went back to canterlot and there was a huge celebration waiting for them, and shining armor went over and hugged twilight and princess cadence also hugged her daughter-in-law. Then there was a bunch of music and the canterlot guards started to sing 'when the saints go marching in' acapella. But then DJpon3 came over and said "it's time to kick this up a notch!" and she conducted them so they were all singing it in the dustup way. While all the ponies were dancing to the music and having a great time, a pony came up to twilight. "I'm so glad to see you're alright fraulien, but I'm afraid I must ask for the hat back that I gave you on heartwarming morning, for you see, there are other ponies that the hat must be given to. Our secret societies' code of conduct demands it." Twilight said "I'd be happy to" - twilight turned to face the mysterious somepony and realized it was…. ….photo finnish!

And then all the ponies had a wonderful day after that

[AN: who! I had such a wonderful time writing that story! Thanks to all the amazing readers! Sometimes I wish you were living in my stories so I could make you happy all the time! Have a nice day and thank you again!]

chapter 11: epilogue

(This is gonna be quick. Don't worry, I would never forget to give Rarity's story a happy ending. Thanks to all the wonderful readers for doing just that! :))

rarity was being blindfolded by pinkie pie and led through the streets. "Pinkie pie, where are we going?" Pinkie pie smiled and giggled at the thought "We're going right here!" she triumphed - pulling the blindfold off rarity. It was a huge celebration party. All of her friends were there and so was princess celestia and luna and twilight and pinkie pie and spike and applejack and fluttershy and rainbow dash and they were all standing at the base of a huge rocket ship. Celestia stepped foreword and said "Future rarity, it takes a lot of bravery and heart to stand up to somepony, especially when that pony has a heart as black as night." Luna looked a little sadded by this but celestia leaned over to her and said "Don't worry it's a phrase we use all the time now." Then she turned back to rarity and said "we feel that, since you fought this nightmarish lunatic for several hundred years, it's only fair that you get a rocketship so you can cure your sister. Rarity was overcome with emotion and went and hugged all of her friends including her past self. Then she got on the balcony of the spaceship which was white with gold trim and found a scrapbook with photos of the six of them in their adventures in mayupa and their party back in canterlot and she started to cry tears of sentimentality. Then princess luna got on the rocketship too and said "It's time to go" so the two ponies stood on the balcony and waved goodbye as the rocket took off into the sky like a five-hundred-ton pegasus spewing rainbow clouds. Twilight sparkle returned home with spike, with one small addition. She reached into her gnapsack and pulled out a wizard's hat while sipping some coffee spike was nice enough to make for her. "wow," said the starswirl the bearded hat "It's like a whole new world out here" The purple unicorn just beamed "I guess we've got a lot of catching up to do."

**(: THE END :)**


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